My personal forum for discussing whatever I feel like, but it's usually related to my faith.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Defending Our Religion Before a Godless World–Pt 2

Let’s review the first point from Part 1: personal conviction. We must realize that the so-called ‘godless’ society we are having to defend against is not actually godless; it’s just that they reject OUR god, and replace Him with gods of materialism, indulgence, self-gratification and self-importance. Because they are trying to replace our god with theirs, their motivation to undermine our religious freedom and foundation is an active agenda, not a passive one. My point here is that we must be more driven and diligent than to think the godless society can be treated lightly. I believe that the personal conviction required of us will at some point rival the convictions of those who founded our nation against the oppressive rule of Great Britain. We may be called upon to defend our right to worship according to the dictates of our own conscience in an equally passionate way.

This type of conviction requires a firm testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This testimony will be ‘put on trial’, ridiculed and criticized by the Sherems and the Korihors of the world. Can you withstand lawyer-like cross-examination and impeachment of your faith? You must be able to.

The second point, being able to express our convictions effectively, may require practice. It requires the ability to stay on task, to withstand attempts to sidetrack and funnel the debate away from the fully comprehensive ‘playing field’ that includes both religion AND politics. In showing how to defend our religion against the godless, I will give several examples from my life of how I have successfully done this. I cannot begin to cover every possible argument, but my examples should provide the catalyst for personal thought, creativity and adaptation for particular situations.